Pac-12 Power Rankings

It was a wild night in the Pac-12 on Thursday, as Oregon pulled off one of the conference's best upsets of the season thus far, knocking off previously undefeated Arizona. That game may have changed the outlook of the Pac-12 for good this season, as it seems to now be anyone's game.

1. ARIZONA (14-1, 2-1, Last week: 1)

The Wildcats are indeed human; that much was proven in Eugene on Thursday night, as the Ducks held off a late Arizona run to pull off the upset on their home court. I contemplated whether that loss should drop the Wildcats in these rankings, especially considering the fact that they lost to the team below them, but 14 straight wins prior to last night proved something that Oregon or UCLA or even Arizona State hasn't quite proven yet. Arizona is still the team to beat in the Pac-12, and a road loss to a good, underrated team isn't going to completely derail those expectations. The Wildcats still have the most talent of any team in the conference, and with such a balanced attack, they could reel off another 14 wins in a row. But with how competitive the Pac-12 has proven to be so far, I'm guessing that won't be the case.

2. OREGON (13-2, 2-0, Last week: 4)

No team has surprised more earlier on than the Ducks, and Thursday night's win over Arizona was a testament to how dangerous this Oregon team can be. The Ducks are especially dangerous, mostly due to their ridiculous balance -- just last night, all five of Oregon's starters scored nine points or more. Two of the Ducks' key freshmen, Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis have exceeded coach Dana Altman's expectations, and if they continue to get better this season, there's reason to believe that Oregon might be able to push for a Pac-12 title. It'll take some more wins against the top of the conference -- the next eight days are especially important, with matchups against Arizona State and UCLA looming -- but the Ducks have proven something early on: the Pac-12 is wide open.

3. UCLA (13-3, 3-0, Last week: 3)

Prior to Oregon's big upset last night and UCLA's wildly underwhelming win in Salt Lake City, I had the Bruins at the No. 2 spot, mostly because it seemed like they were finally finding themselves in their up-tempo offense. Thursday night, however, they hit a bit of a bump in the path in their first true road test against Utah and needed some serious luck at the end of game (two missed wide-open 3-pointers) to pull it off. Shabazz Muhammad looked flat-out bad against the Utes, as Cedric Martin gave him problems all night long, and the rest of UCLA's talented freshmen didn't really do much, especially in the second half. A win is a win, and the Bruins certainly have the potential to overtake the top spot if they keep up their current eight-game win streak. But for now, they'll stay put, especially with a big road contest against Colorado looming.

4. ARIZONA STATE (14-2, 3-0, Last week: 5)

I still question whether the Sun Devils are for real or not, as freshman Jahii Carson and senior Carrick Felix have far exceeded expectations in leading Arizona State to 14 wins already after the team managed just 10 victories all of last year. But each time they've been doubted, the Sun Devils have risen to the occasion, beating Oregon State and Colorado in consecutive games. Carson has had his off nights, but that can be expected from a freshman point guard. And still, some think Carson might be the conference's best freshmen so far in 2012-13. But Felix is the key cog here, as his senior leadership and ability to drop a double-double on any given night has been an enormous boost. We'll know soon whether Arizona State is legit, as three of its next four opponents are numbers one through three in these rankings, but so far, the Sun Devils have proven quite a bit.

5. COLORADO (11-4, 1-2, Last week: 2)

No team in the Pac-12 has fallen farther than the Buffs in the past week, as they dropped two contests to Arizona (even though they probably deserved to win) and Arizona State and almost lost to cellar-dwelling USC on Thursday night. It's pretty clear that Colorado still has a long way to go to truly compete for the Pac-12 championship, especially given its two losses to open the conference slate, but there's definite talent on the roster and no reason to think the Buffs can't get back on track. The loss to Arizona was clearly a deflating one, and it'll help to have a schedule in the next week that could result in five or six in-conference wins.

6. WASHINGTON (10-5, 2-0, Last week: 10)

The talent Washington has on its roster is finally beginning to show through, especially after the Huskies' big win over Cal on Wednesday. There's still a long, long ways to go for Washington to truly live up to its potential, and there's reason to believe that a C.J. Wilcox-only offense might not be able to get there. But the Huskies are 2-0 on the road to start Pac-12 play, and there's something to be said for that. Big man Aziz N'Diaye has put together back-to-back double-doubles and could be one of the conference's best post presences if he puts it all together. If Washington can beat Stanford on the road on Sunday, the Huskies will start 3-0 away from home.

7. OREGON STATE (10-5, 0-2, Last week: 7)

Like last week, the bottom half of the Pac-12 has been a bit of a dumpster fire, as the Beavers have had a pretty awful week, yet stay at the No. 7 spot in these rankings. Their first two Pac-12 games came against tough opponents in Oregon and Arizona State, so there's no shame in losing those games. But Oregon State hasn't quite bounced back from its terrible loss to Towson, and in a competitive conference at the top, the Beavers will have to make some moves in order to battle for an NCAA Tournament spot. Specifically, they'll need to improve on defense, where KenPom.com ranks them as the 190th-best defense in the country.

8. STANFORD (10-6, 1-2, Last week: 8)

Stanford looked pretty bad against the Bruins in UCLA's second contest of the Pac-12 season, but the Cardinal bounced back a bit with a win over Washington State. Still, there's reason to believe that they won't be able to compete offensively with the top half of the conference, as they rank near the bottom in the nation in field goal percentage. There are some weapons at Stanford's disposal with Dwight Powell -- who is coming off of back-to-back double-doubles -- and Chasson Randle -- who has bounced back for two big-time offensive outputs in his last two games. As evidenced by some of their early-season struggles though, Stanford is going to have trouble getting much momentum against the top half of the conference.

9. CALIFORNIA (9-6, 1-2, Last week: 6)

The Golden Bears managed just 47 measly points against Washington in their last time out, and it seems that Cal has certainly regressed, losing three of its last four. The roster still relies a great deal on Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs, and when those aren't on their game -- as was the case against the Huskies -- then Cal is going to have a lot of trouble putting together much offensive momentum. The Bears deserve some credit for playing a tough schedule early on, but one conference win over USC just isn't going to cut it through three games in a tightly-contested Pac-12.

10. WASHINGTON STATE (9-6, 0-2, Last week: 9)

Washington State has come close in all but one of its losses so far this season, but an 0-2 start in-conference does quite a number on the validity of that statistic. Consider those games came against Stanford and Washington, and there's even less of an excuse for the Cougars early on. Brock Motum is still one of the Pac-12's most dangerous offensive players -- averaging 20 points per game -- but without much else on offense, it's hard for Motum to completely carry the show. The Cougars have two winnable games coming up against Cal and Utah, which would help them get in track.

11. UTAH (8-7, 0-3, Last week: 11)

Just one late 3-pointer away from beating UCLA on Thursday night, the Utes have some firepower to upset a team or two down the stretch in the Pac-12. That's especially true if Jordan Loveridge and Jarred DuBois can get on the same page offensively -- something that didn't quite happen against the Bruins. Still, with a tough home court and a roster that can kind of sneak up on you, I expect Utah to ruin some plans this season. Lucky for UCLA, it got its game at Huntsman Center out of the way early.

12. USC (6-10, 1-2, Last week: 12)

It's still pretty brutal in Trojan Land, but USC has shown some improvement at times, beating a decent Stanford team and taking Colorado down to the wire on Thursday night. Still, the talent deficiency is a problem and the expectations are ridiculously low coming out of Los Angeles. A matchup with Utah looms, and if the Trojans can't at least put up a fight in that one, it could get even uglier for Kevin O'Neill and Co.

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